Coincheck Review

Coincheck Review by professional Forex trading experts the “ForexSQ” FX trading team, Finding out everything you need to know about the broker in this Coincheck Review.

Coincheck Review

Coincheck is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan and Asia as a whole. It offers leveraged trading (up to 1:5) in some crytocurrencies for Japanese yen and vice versa, a spot buy/sell service and several other services.

Update: On January 26, 2018 Coincheck became the victim of the largest heist in cryptocurrency history so far. Unknown hackers breached the security of the exchange’s hot wallet and stole NEM (XEM) coins worth $530 million in client funds. Coincheck suspended trading and promised to return the funds to its clients. It was revealed that the coins were kept in an online hot wallet, which was a hack waiting to happen and Coincheck was not using a multisignature security system to make sure all transactions are validated by a third party, before being processed.

There is one type of account with a leverage of up to 1:5, but it has to be verified with a government ID, though an ID selfie and SMS verification. The available cryptocurrencies for margin trading are Bitcoin, Ethererum and Ethereum Classic. The buy/sell service supports several additional cryptocurrencies: Lisk, Factom, Bitcoin Cash, NEM, DASH, Zcash, Ripple, Augur and Monero.

Another cryptocurrency exchange with the same leverage is Kraken, while other, also Japanese, like Quoinex and bitFlyer, offer a higher leverage of 1:25 and 1:15, respectively.

There are also forex brokers who offer leveraged speculative trading on cryptocurrency CFDs. Such brokers are FXTM, IG, HYCM, easyMarkets (started offering those instruments only recently), FxChoice, Grand Capital, etc.

The Company. Security of Funds

Coincheck is a major Japanese cryptocurrency company established in 2014. It offers several types of financial services and platforms in Japan and throughout Asia. It is licensed by Japan’s Financial Services Agency, as required by local law. Last year Japan became the first country to introduce regulation of cryptocurrencies and exchanges on a national levels and confirmed its position among the cryptocurrency pioneers of the world.

In addition to the leveraged trading and spot trading platforms, Coinchek also offers an e-wallet service, money transferring, a cryptocurrency-based donation crowdfunding platform, bitcoin lending and an API for merchants and developers to accept payments or build applications. Since the spring of 2016 Coincheck is the cryptocurrency payments partner of Japan’s entertainment company DMM, which has 19 million registered users.

Coincheck claims to be the largest Bitcoin exchange in Japan, with a volume of 36 497 Bitcoins in the last 24 hours.

Coincheck keeps client funds in segregated accounts and the wallets are entirely in an encrypted cold storage. The company also uses encrypted data, 2-Step Verification by SMS and Google Authenticator, secure connections and makes regular backups of its records.

Coincheck, similarly to other cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and BitBay, offers its clients a co-branded debit card. It is a Visa, can be topped up with Bitcoins through a smartphone app and can be used for payments to all merchants accepting Visa. Some forex brokers have a similar proposal for its clients. Usually the card is co-branded with MasterCard and can be used as a withdrawal tool. Such brokers are FXTM, FxPro and FBS, for example.

What we find curious is that Coincheck also has an electricity provider service where clients can choose an electricity company and become its client. Electricity can be paid for in Bitcoins and there is a small discount.

According to forum posts, Coincheck’s clients are not very happy with the customer support, which is very slow and sometimes does not reply at all. There are also weekend delays for confirmations of major cryptocurrency transactions. The overall reviews, however, are positive and so far the platform has not been hacked.

Due to the nature of Coincheck’s business, there several platforms, but we had a look at the trading platform. Leveraged trading is done through the TradeView platform, which provides feeds from several of the major cryptocurrency exchanges, in addition to Coincheck: Poloniex, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Huobi, Coinbase and OKCoin.

The spot trading interface is simple and intuitive, with an order book and a chat window. Both platforms offer an English-language interface.

Coincheck also offers mobile applications for Android and iOS devices. They combine the e-wallet and money transferring service with the spot trading option. Simple price checking, charts and deposit options are also available.

Methods of payment

Coincheck provides payment options both in cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. Deposits are accepted through bank transfers, credit and debit cards and through some convenience stores in Japan. A similar option for cash deposits in convenience stores is offered by two Polish exchanges: Coinroom and BitBay. There is also an option for payments through the Payeasy platform.

International deposits are also accepted in USD.

Coincheck is one of the major players on the Japanese cryptocurrency market. Like many Japanese companies, it offers a variety of services, sometimes not very related to each other.

What we like about it is that it is properly regulated and appears to be a stable and reliable company. The number of coins available for spot trading is fairly OK, but the number of coins for leveraged trading is quite limited, which we do not like very much. The fact that they can be traded only against the JPY is not very pleasing and we are not very convinced Coincheck is very popular outside Japan, despite its claims to be a major exchange throughout Asia.

If the Wikipedia information about the regular fees of Coincheck is true, then they are comparable to those of other Japanese exchanges like bitFlyer.